Bait
by RecoveringTheSatellites
Summary: Sam hadn't always hated his dad. But he makes a mistake Sam just can't forgive.


Disclaimer: You know the drill. I own nothing but the random placements of words on the page, and certainly no money.

Authors Notes: Yay, after many attempts at longer stories I've finally got something worth sharing. Odd it should be a Sammy fic when really my heart belongs to Dean but that's the way things go. Enjoy and don't forget to press the all important purple button.

**Bait**

Sam sat on his bag on top of the wooden porch, staring out at the lake, boats now pulled up onto the grass to signal the end of the summer. It was quiet now, and it made the place really eerie.

"Hey Sam." A tall and lanky boy with a smile that reminded him of Dean came and sat next to him. "You still here?"

"Yep." He told his councillor, Ben.

"I'm sure your dad will be here soon. He's probably just caught in traffic or something."

Sam nodded definitely. "It's okay. I know he'll be here. Dean wont let him forget me."

Ben smiled but not without a hint of sadness. The eleven year old had barely mentioned his father all summer but Dean's name had come up in almost every conversation. As far as Ben could tell it was Dean who had raised the money for his younger brother to got to camp as well as looking after him at home.

"Ah Dean. Do you think I'll be able to meet this super brother of yours?"

"Yes. He'll be here."

"Well I sure hope so." Ben joked. "Because we're all going out tonight. We'll have to make you designated driver."

"I could you know." Sam replied proudly, enjoying the idea of being included in the councillors plans. "Dean has started to teach me to drive already. He says I'm pretty good at it."

Ben frowned. "I thought your brother still had a year or two before he could drive."

Sam looked sheepish as he realised he'd nearly given the game away. The truth was Dean had been driving since he was Sam's age, ever since that hunt in which their father had been too injured to get them back to the motel. "I mean on the Sega Megadrive." He covered lamely.

"Ah." Ben said, but wasn't sure he believed him. "Hey look." He pointed. "Nice car. Is that your dad's?"

They watched the shiny black Impala as it drove up the gravel path stopping as it reached the bunk. Sam had leapt to his feet followed by Ben who shouldered his bag for him, but Sam stopped when he saw who was driving the car.

"Pastor Jim?" Sam frowned as the man got out of the car. "Where's dad and Dean?"

"They couldn't come Sam." Jim said. "Your dad's got an important job he can't leave and Dean's helping him. They're sorry they couldn't come but they sent me instead."

"That's okay." Sam said but his face had fallen.

"Hi, I'm Ben." Ben thrust out his hand which Jim shook warmly.

"Jim. I'm Sam's uncle." He took Sam's bag from him and threw it in the trunk.

"He's a really good kid."

Jim looked down at the boy. "Yeah, he is. Ready to go Sam?"

"Yep."

"See you Sam." Ben smiled ruffling his hair and smiling like Dean again.

"Bye and thank you." Sam grinned running round and getting into the passenger seat.

"Thanks." Jim said. "Look, I know I'm supposed to tip but…"

"Hey." Ben stopped him. He pictured Sam at the beginning of camp, lost and shy with his small bag of clothes watching in awe as the other boys unpacked their huge bags of stuff. "I wasn't expecting anything. Just look after him okay?"

Jim nodded. "Don't think you're not appreciated by all of us." He got into the car.

Ben waved as the car pulled away and Sam waved back, leaning over the backseat so he could see out of the back window until his councillor was out of sight.

"Did you enjoy camp Sammy?" Jim asked as the small lane opened out onto the highway.

"Yeah," Sam said excitedly, "I went kayaking and rock climbing and I had a part in the play. It wasn't a very big part but Ben said I was really good in it." He spoke so fast that Jim struggled to keep up. "And at the end of camp we had a war. Not a real war like ours but a fun one with games and a song we had to sing and a banner we had to paint and we had races and I was the fastest in the whole camp at running and swimming. I even beat the older kids."

Jim laughed. "You might even be able to beat Dean now."

"Nah. No one could beat Dean." Sam said, as though it was a known fact that Dean was the fastest and strongest person in the world. He knew he was far too old to think that but he'd found it was a belief he couldn't quite grow out of.

It took almost two hours of driving and Sam spoke the whole way, telling Jim things that had happened just as he remembered them so that the stories became mixed up and frequently interrupted with others. He sounded like a much younger child, he was so excited at all the things he'd done. Jim stayed quiet and let him talk. He stayed sombre throughout the journey but Sam was too busy recounting the last two months of his life to noticed. It had just started to get dark when they turned down a dirt track and Sam realised where they were.

"Why are we at Bobby's?" Sam asked as they pulled up outside the run down house.

"Your father and brother were hunting werewolves in the woods around here. Listen Sam," Jim touched his shoulder comfortingly, "your brother's been hurt."

Sam frowned at him. His brother had been hurt loads of times, it was the accepted risk and although it still secretly upset Sam whenever it happened, the adults never reacted like this. Sam raced out of the car before Jim could stop him, dodging and hurdling the engine parts and other bits of scrap that littered Bobby's yard.

They'd been here for medical help once before, John had been shot in the shoulder with his own gun by a poltergeist, so her knew exactly where they'd be. Sam raced through the house to the room at the back and burst through the door. Unlike the rest of the house which was a mess of books and weapons and other bits of clutter, this room was kept clean and tidy. In the middle of the room Bobby and John were stood over a small bed, but Sam didn't see them, only the pale face of the boy laid on the table, and the blood staining him.

"Dean!" Sam screamed and rushed towards him.

"Sam." John shouted. "Get the hell out of here!"

"Dean," Sam sobbed, staring at the blood that covered his brother. Dean had been stripped to the waist, his body, well-muscled for a fifteen year old, was as pale as the sheets he lay on. Large patches of gauze covered his chest and left cheek, soaked through with bloody claw marks, lines for the IV and blood transfusion snaked from his arm, but it was his shoulder that was most worrying. The deep gashes had been left free of any dressing and were still flowing freely. Bobby and John were stood over him but doing nothing to stem the flow.

"Sam get out of here." John ordered.

"Why aren't you doing anything?" Sam yelled, ignoring his father. "Make it stop." Tears streamed down his cheeks and his face was red with anger.

"Sammy." The voice was faint and gasping, barely audible but it stopped Sam in his tracks. Dean's eyes were glassy and his expression pained but there was the faintest of smiles on his lips. "Do as dad says."

"No Dean. I wont leave you."

"Come on Sam." Jim was beside him now. He put his hands on the boys shoulders and having met with only a little resistance managed to lead him away.

"Again." Bobby said to John, ignoring the youngest Winchester. John gripped Dean's arms tightly as Bobby opened a small silver flask. He poured the liquid over the wound. Dean's body bucked and he hissed as he fought back a scream.

"Wait, no what are you doing to him?" Sam stopped and yelled at them, fighting against Jim's strong grip to run back to his brother.

"Dean's been bitten by a werewolf." Jim explained. "The bite has to be treated with silver nitrate to cleanse it. It hurts but it will stop him becoming one of them."

Sam's shoulders slackened in defeat and Jim was able to lead the boy out of the room. Jim moved a pile of books from the moth eaten sofa so that Sam could sit down on it. Jim made him a hot chocolate and poured himself a large whiskey and they sat in silence, listening with pained hearts to the weak moans from the other room well into the night.

Eventually, hours later, the door opened and John appeared wiping his hands on a blooded rag.

"What happened?" Sam leapt to his feet.

John sighed, he looked exhausted, his face almost as pale as his eldest son's. "Your brother and I were hunting this werewolf pack about an hour north of here. We'd spent about a fortnight looking for them but they kept eluding us. Eventually we decided the only way to catch them was to draw them out."

Bobby had appeared leaning against to doorframe to listen to the explanation.

"We figured, that they might come after Dean if he was on his own so…"

"You used Dean as bait?" Sam shouted.

"I was going to be right there. But there were more of them than we'd expected."

"You let Dean get hurt." Sam screamed running at john and pounding a fist into the man's chest. John looked down at his boy, the punch had hurt but he didn't say anything.

"I never meant for him to get hurt. They were never supposed to get that close." John defended his actions but not his body as Sam hit him over and over again.

"You let Dean get hurt. I'm never going to trust you again. You could have killed him." Each punch was coupled with the accusations.

"Sam." Bobby said from the doorway, calmly but firmly. "You can see your brother now."

Glaring at his father Sam stalked past him and into the other room. Bobby gave him a comforting squeeze of the shoulder as he walked past, closing the door after him so the two boys could have some privacy.

"Dean?" Sam walked over to the bed tentatively and clasped his brothers hand.

"Hey Sammy." Dean smiled up at him weakly. The bite had now been sown up and dressed but blood was beginning to soak through already.

They stayed in silence awhile each just enjoying the company of the other. In the silence they were able to overhear the raised voices of the men in the other room, including Bobby's opening line. "Winchester, if you ever pull a stunt like that with one of your boys again you'd better not come back because I swear to God I will shoot you myself."

Hoping to distract Sam from the arguing adults Dean managed a pained grin. "So Sam, how was camp?"

THE END


End file.
